Tinkerbell Half Marathon

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This past January, I was lucky enough to see Tinkerbell fly, run several miles through Disneyland at night after the park was closed, and high five Mickey Mouse. That is the kind of fun that the Disneyland Tinkerbell Half-Marathon Weekend has to offer.   Registration opens today at noon for the Half-Marathon, Neverland Family 5k Run, and the runDisney Kids Race January 18-20, 2013.

The Neverland race was in the evening the last time and it was fun running through the park when it was dark and empty. This year the race will be early Saturday morning, which will be much easier on the younger kids.  Or if they don’t want to do the 5K there is a 1-miler and 100, 200, and 400 meter dash. I did the half-marathon with 2 friends who were visiting for the weekend and I wasn’t the only one with a group. It’s an all-woman race and many are doing it for the first time. Tinkerbell is a great first race; it’s fun, mellow, and most people are in it to have fun, not so much to beat their best time.
As with all of the Disney races, you can wear costumes like these lovely ladies from Team Sparkle. If you do register, try to do it early. Prices go up after July 17 and again after September 4. It sold out last year as did the Disney Half Marathon so don’t procrastinate if you really want to do this race. The Disneyland Half Marathon in September sold out in February.
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Kelly and Carrie of Team Sparkle

Disneyland Half Marathon

This past weekend I completed my first Disneyland Half Marathon. I was invited by runDisney to participate and signed up at the  last minute. I was a little worried that I hadn’t trained enough and because of that I would have a terrible race time.
All of those worries seemed silly as I ran past the starting line and saw Mickey and Minnie cheering on the crowd. Taking pictures soon took precedence over anything else. And there were so many pictures to take.

This was my race BFF.

We met coming out of our hotel rooms and soon realized that we were both running alone. This is what I love about races; you make friends in a minute. We ran together until mile 6 and then unfortunately I lost her. Hopefully she remembered my email address.

The first few miles were fantastic. There was so much to see it hardly felt like I was running.

Stopping for a picture

 

Running into California Adventure
Disneyland’s Main Street
Running into Tomorrowland
Frontierland where Winnie the Pooh and Friends posed for pictures
It was great running through the park. There were so many employees out cheering us on. And a lot of the Disney characters including Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, and a few Princesses.
A folklorico group entertained the runners
Once we got out of the park the sun started beating down on us, but luckily it was not very hot. And there was a lot to see along the way. Folklorico dancers, cheerleading squads, and high school bands were all along the route plus the runners costumes were so much fun.

Near the end of the race I got very competitive. I sprinted the last three miles while I searched for my husband and kids. I didn’t see them until after the race, but was very happy to see this!

I took the above picture later. My actual time was 2 hours and 36 minutes. Not bad. Next stop, the Tinkerbell Half Marathon!